Loving the Enemy
by Tarafina
Summary: With memories of his long-lost wife plaguing his dreams, Zod meets a woman bearing a startling resemblance. Unsure how to continue, he'll soon have to choose between a heart he thought was long dead and a civilization he vowed to conquer.


**Title**: Loving the Enemy  
**Category**: Smallville  
**Genre**: Romance/Drama  
**Ship**: Chloe/Zod  
**Rating**: NC17  
**Word Count**: 779  
**Summary**: With memories of his long-lost wife plaguing his dreams, Zod meets a woman bearing a startling resemblance. Throwing a hitch in his world domination plans, he'll soon have to choose between a heart he thought was long dead and a civilization he vowed to conquer.

**_Loving the Enemy_**

**Prologue**.

Zod's sleep was restless; despite knowing he was now very much untouchable, even by the formidable Kal-El, he couldn't keep the ravage of his nightmares at bay. He was on Kandor, the world before him alight with its red sun. But then, a tremble at the ground, a deafening boom, and he can see his home, his life destroyed before his eyes. The war against Black Zero had come to a head and Zod bore witness to the death of the only two people he'd ever loved; his wife and son. Despite being as far as he was and deep-down knowing that they'd no doubt been dust long before any sound could truly reach his ears, he swore he could hear them screaming. His son, his little boy, Dru-Zod; a warrior in the making; a general to be sure. And now he lay dead, mere ashes on the wind as Black Zero lay its final strike against the Kryptonian military.

A hand at his arm kept him from running to them; from mindlessly throwing himself into the fiery depths of death. Jor-El; his only friend and confidante in a world where having such was not wise.

"They're gone, my friend," he said, his voice shaking with intensity.

And Zod fell to his knees, watched as a cloud of spent lives reached for the reddened sky. His own hand rose, as if to reach for them, to pluck them from the haze of hell that had taken them from him.

Tears, grief as he'd never known it, consumed him whole.

His wife… Chi-La… How would he survive without her?

Her face; soft, gentle, rose in his mind with a smile that only served to tear at his broken heart. Green glittering eyes, lit with mischief and tender love; how he wished he could see her one last time. What he would give, even surrender, to have her with him once more…

A scream, painfully ripping his throat to shreds, rang out to the heavens, desperate for retribution, for relief from his anguish. The sound, so terribly rife with grief, sang until he swore his own ears bled. Due reward, he thought. For wasn't his duty to keep them safe and hadn't he failed them then?

Zod came awake with a jerk, panting desperately for air. Soaked through with sweat, his eyes wildly scanned the room to find nothing but empty darkness. Hazy memories still dotted his eyes, making him blink viciously to rid them from his waking thoughts. He was _not _that man; the Zod of a past he only knew of and hadn't truly lived. He had never touched Chi-La, not really. Though the feel of her satin skin was so sharp in his mind he swore his fingers were running down her back at that very moment. If he closed his eyes tight enough, tried with all his might, he could convince himself he was there with her; could hear her laughter and feel her lips as she kissed him farewell. _Do me proud, soldier,_ she'd murmured in his ear before he'd left to war against Black Zero.

Throwing off his blanket, he tossed his legs over the edge of the bed and glared at the floor, wishing he could rid himself of thoughts of her, of the want that throbbed not only between his tensed legs but in his aching heart. He sneered at the thought. _Heart_. And what heart did he have, really? None at all. And if it were truly beating in his chest it was no doubt blackened with his deeds.

Rising from his bed, he walked toward his bathroom. A hot shower would turn his mind elsewhere; there was planning to do, a planet to conquer, and a son of Jor-El to defeat. However, as he stood in his bathroom, the steam of the shower filling around him, he could only stare at his harrowed face in the mirror and watch as blood dribbled down his neck from his ears, where even the memory of his screams over their death had made him suffer in her name.

"Chi-La," he said, her voice slipping from his lips with an affection he knew he shouldn't feel.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath.

He would not let a woman ruin his plans; truth be-told, she couldn't. She was long dead and only her memory plagued him now. But Zod as he was now would not be swayed by blonde locks and green eyes, not by her mirthful smile that echoed in his mind still. Chi-La was gone, _dead_, and he had only himself and his army to think of now. And so he would.


End file.
